Rings...how much to spend?

We spent £280 on 2 simple white gold bands, and for us that was enough, didn't really see the point of spending double that for the same looking rings just to have more ct's!

spend what you can afford to, and look around.

You'll find a massive range of responses to this and also views. All that's important is that you can afford what you get, that you love what you get and that it means something to you. It doesn't have to be precious metal, but it should match the metal of your ER or you'll cause excess wear to the softer ring. It doesn't have to have diamonds, although many like that now. All it(they) needs to be is a true symbol of your marriage.

FWIW - I wanted an eternity ring for mine with nice diamonds, prob around 1 ct. I've only ever wanted an eternity ring and as I have such tiny fingers I didn;t think I'd have room for all three rings. But when I tried one against my ER it looked wrong, so I've ended up with a plain band and couldn't be happier. It really sets of my ER. I will get a really slim eternity ring in time to come tho

hth

x

Do whatever feels right for you, I don't think there is certain price range! If you see one you like and it happens to be cheaper then it doesn't matter! One thing I would say is that make sure its the same metal as your engagement ring - mines platinum so that bumps the price up instantly!

I didn't want anything too fancy as I want the ER to be noticed more than the wedding ring. I have got an 18ct white gold ring with a diamond twist which matches my ER really well, it was £380 from Birmingham jewellery quarter. I was very pleased with the price as I was looking at a similar ring in H Samuel which was £399 for 9ct. OH has got a palladium band with a baguette diamond and that was £430 which was a bargain as seen similar on high street for about £700. We didn't want to spend too much but thought we would have to spend more than we did to get what we wanted.

I thought I would want a plain band, but actually ended up with a diamond set one. The only thing as someone has already said is that is must match the material of your ER.

Alba Rose is a highly recommended website around these parts, as you can get exactly what you want, either from their range, or made bespoke, for a fraction of the price. The best thing to do though is try different ones on, find what you want and set a budget. Once I decided I wanted a 18ct diamond set eternity band, I didn't think I would be able to find one for less that £700. As it happened, Ernest Jones has exactly that for £400, and I asked if they would knock anything off. The said they could do 10%, or 20% off an entire order when buying OHs ring too! So it was £320.

It depends on what your after and how you want to spend your budget. We always said we would be prepared to spend a lot in the rings and photos as they are what survives after the day. My partner loves the mokume-gane rings and I just knew I wanted my wedding ring made by the same bespoke designers my engagement ring was made from. Ohs ring will be around £800 and mine will be around £500. I will be having mine with an engraved pattern all the way round. It sounds a lot of money to spend on two rings but that was one of our biggest priorities.

These are ours....

OH's is sterling silver and 7mm wide with personalised engraving on both the inside and the outside and cost £47.20 including postage.

Mine is 9 carat yellow gold and 3mm with personalised engraving on the inside and cost £136.70 including postage.

Both were from Etsy but different sellers ;-)

There's no right or wrong amount, as long as you are both happy with whatever you choose.

I have fat fingers, and I wanted something that didn't seem lost on my hands.....we didn't see anything I liked for ages, then we saw one we both loved...it's wide, set with diamonds that match my engagement ring and more than we'd expected to spend, but it is perfect!!

They vary so much! Me and my oh have budgeted for £300 each! I am going for white gold, really like the twisted ones and my other half is looking at a paladium band x

We didn't budget for them we went with what we liked. Tbh when we was trying them on we made sure we didn't look at the price. Wedding rings was the most important thing apart from our vows to my oh. I thought I wanted diamond in my ring but I didn't feel it looked right. In the end I went for a plain white gold band and mine was £81 and his was £500 they was suppose to be £91 and £550. But we got a discount because we bought both together.

It comes down to personal choice. I didn't intend to spend so much on my ring, but after falling in love with one I decided it was worth the extra cost. Some women spend £1,000+ on their outfits, I'm going to spend the money on my ring instead. The way I see it, the ring is the only part of your wedding that you will see everyday for the rest of your life (except the groom, obviously!), so the most important thing is that it's perfect for you. The cost (as long as you can afford it!), what anyone else thinks about how it looks etc, none of that matters.

As the other have said, it isn't a matter of how much you should spend, but more a matter of what you can afford/are willing to spend to get what you like.

Going bespoke doesn't have to cost the earth either, so if you can't find what you want it's worth shopping around jewellery makers. I thought I'd have a really hard time with rings and that they'd end up being really expensive because I knew I'd never find what I wanted in a mainstream jewellers.

I used to work in Sierra Leone with victims of the civil war there (think the movie blood diamond - i was working with the aftermath) and I knew I'd never wear a diamond (*I hastily point out that this is a very personal choice and I have no issue with others who do choose diamonds, it's a traditional, beautiful and very romantic stone, just not for me*), and I have similar issues around gold for the same reason. OH and I decided to go bespoke, and VERY personal, and we fully expected it to cost the earth, we had budgeted a grand for rings for this reason. We got a solid silver $1 US coin minted in 2007 because we met in 2007 in the states, then we took it to the jewellers and had the single coin made into 3 custom designed rings, his wedding ring, my wedding ring, and my engagement ring which we had set with a pale Sapphire (Sapphire is my birth stone, but going pale rather than deep blue makes it resemble amethyst which is the stone for February when we met. I love the sense of unity from all three rings being from the same origin. AND (the real point of my story) all three rings - completely custom designed and unique to us - cost under 200 quid.

Spend what you can afford just make sure the materials match. Mine was £ 199, him indoors is still choosing his but is looking around 2-300 pound mark.

As long as you like it that is all that matters xx

You can spend whatever you like, my friends who recently got married spent £30 on each of their rings from Argos because they were on a budget and that's all they wanted. I'm having my granma's ring which is worth virtually nothing but has sentimental value. I want oh to spend a decent amount on his because it will probably be the only expensive peice of jewellery he'll ever have.

The way we thought of it was that we would be wearing them for the rest of our lives so something of decent quality, I also wanted to match the mental of my engagement ring.

Be prepared to shop around though as prices vary massively. We looked at a few in high street jewellery stores but ended up going to Hatton Garden as it worked out cheaper, we managed to negotiate a great deal as hubby to be opted for palladium ring we also got discount for buying them together.

There are some great deals online too one of my friends bought hers for £100 each and they look great, it just depends on your overall budget, dont spend money you cant afford but also don't skimp if you don't have to.

We thought along these lines. We also both thought we'd get stones or engraving but have ended up with plain bands.

One way we saved money was by buying our rings from someone who sells to shops. This way we bought them the rings by weight of the metal - smaller ring size, smaller the price etc.

Ours are costing £65 for both (they are Celtic knot rings dipped in white gold) but we are having them hand made by a little jewelery making instead of buying from a big fancy shop

What we did was go around the high street jewellers to find what we liked and what looked nice and then went home to find it cheaper on the net (a bit naughty i know!) I fell in love with a ring i saw in Fraser Hart which was a platinum channel set eternity ring with alternating round and baguette diamonds but they only make it in platinum and i need white gold to match my engagement ring. I e-mailed the picture and the spec. to 77 Diamonds who made my engagement ring and they are making me the same ring as a bespoke order for half the price of the fraser hart ring, and it has a bigger tcw than the other ring!

As everyone else has said, there's no right or wrong here.

Speaking as a bride, I wanted something unique and ethical - as a jeweller, I wanted something that would advertise my business. I think I got what I wanted

I see a lot of clients who want so many different things; the best thing to do is to try some on - just the same as your dress. For me, it's really important that my clients try rings on with their ER as often they end up wanting a shaped one, or more/less simple than they originally thought.

As I'm a person who works with their hands, I went for a more solid ring as I know I'd bash a daintier one about and lose the stones from it, so it's always worth thinking about practical factors when looking. And have a nose on Pinterest or somewhere like that for inspiration

Good luck!

Am also happy to help with professional opinions on things you find if you want; done it for a few hitchers on here

Thanks everyone, still unsure of what we want. We did think we wanted simple bands but now my partner is thinking about something special because i think hes realised like other people its something he will wear..hopefully for the rest of his life, but i did find out hes not allowed to wear his ring at work, which a bit annoyed at (he works on machines, so its for safety reasons)

Going to start having a look in the next few months and get something ordered up :-) everyone has been so helpful, love this site xx

I bought our rings directly from a gold supplier instead of a high street shop so we paid in total £130 for them.

They're nice rings, just plain bands. but we've agreed it's something that in 5 years time we'll splash on new expensive ones (or which ever year we struggle with anniversary gift ideas!)

My engagement ring was bespoke designed for me so it's incredibly special and incorporates the diamond from my grandmother's engagement ring.

I just wanted a plain, simple band for my wedding ring so we've ordered online and saved ourselves a fortune. It's still special but I just wanted a classic band so there didn't seem to be any point in spending loads on it!